Sugar Ray, Smash Mouth, und The English Beat

The members of Sugar Ray grew up in Orange County, California, US, but initially pursued differing musical paths. Rodney Sheppard the band’s principal guitarist had played in several reggae band’s and had even collaborated with Dean Butterworth (the drummer of Good Charlotte). Later on Sheppard formed the band the Tories with future Sugar Ray drummer Stan Frazier. With the addition of bassist Murphy Karges and vocalist Mark McGrath, the group changed its name to Shrinky Dinx, but eventually settled on the name Sugar Ray.

Though the origins of the band date back to the mid 80s the group’s debut album “Lemonade and Brownies” did not come out until 1995. The album did not produce a hit single; however, it did grab the attention of several critics and acted as a platform on which the band showcased their unique blend of hip-hop, funk, and metal.

The group struck gold with their next album “Floored”. This release featured songs written in a similar vein of their previous material; however, their single “Fly” went in an entirely different direction and went on to be the band’s most successful song to date. The song reached No.1 on the Billboard’s Airplay List and pushed album sales to double platinum status. The hype surrounding this single also landed the band a cameo in the Billy Crystal and Robin Williams’ movie “Father’s Day”.

The group released their sarcastically titled follow up “14:59” in 1999. The album’s title was a statement against the criticism of those labeling the group as a one hit wonder. It was a hint that their 15 minutes of fame had not yet expired. The band’s assessment seemed to be spot on. The album debuted at No. 20 on the Billboard 200 and contained two standout singles “Every Morning”, which entered the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Chart at No. 3 and “Someday” which entered at No. 7.

Sugar Ray started off the turn of the millennium recording a cover of John Cale and Brian Eno’s “Spinning Away” for the Danny Boyle dystopian film “The Beach”. They also made another appearance in the 2002 film “Scooby-Doo”, but before that they released their 2001 self-titled album that rose to commercial success thanks due to the hit single “When It’s Over”.

In 2003 the band issued their album “In the Pursuit of Leisure”, which featured a cover of Joe Jackson’s “Is She Really Going Out with Him” . In 2005 they put out a greatest hits album that contained previously unreleased material.

Following the release of their greatest hits album the band took a break from recording and touring. They were also released from their contract with Atlantic Records during this time. The group broke this period of inactivity with the release of “Into Yesterday” which was specifically written for the “Surf’s Up” soundtrack and they also went on a small tour in Asia. Sugar Ray put out their long awaited follow up “Music For Cougars” in 2009 and subsequently did a round of nostalgic tours with artists such as Smash Mouth and the Spin Doctors.

Smash Mouth formed in 1994 when lead singer Steve Harwell, formerly of the rap group F.O.S., was introduced to guitarist Greg Camp and bassist Paul De Lisle by his manager Kevin Coleman. The trio along with Coleman on drums played under the moniker Smashmouth mainly playing ska and punk music getting their first break when a demo of their song “Nervous in the Alley” was played on local radio. Soon after the band signed to Interscope Records, changed the band name to Smash Mouth and released their debut album “Fush Yu Mang” in 1997. The album has since gone double platinum thanks to the singles “Walkin’ on the Sun” and “The Fonz”.

The sound of the follow-up album titled “Astro Lounge” represented a shift towards accessible pop and led to a huge increase in publicity for the band. “All Star” the band’s biggest selling single, which featured has featured in several movie soundtracks including Shrek, helped the album be certified as triple platinum. Soon after the release drummer Kevin Coleman departed the group due to back problems who was replaced by Mitch Marine for the “Astro Lounge” tour, after which Michael Urbana filled the position.

Smash Mouth’s self-titled third full-length album was released in 2001 and featured the well-received cover of The Monkees’ song “I’m a Believer”, the album however didn’t chart as well as the first two albums. The band was dropped from Interscope Records shortly after the releasee of their fourth album “Get the Picture?” released in 2003, it featured the singles “You Are My Number One” and “Hang On”. Shortly after Smash Mouth signed to Universal Records and released a greatest hits compilation and a Christmas album titled “Gift of Rock” and covered artists from the Kinks to the Ramones.

After many delays and setbacks, the band’s fifth studio album, intended to be titled “Old Habits” was eventually shelved and replaced with “Summer Girl” which got its release on September 19, 2006 on Universal Records. The band experienced a plague of line-up changes from then on and the release of their sixth full-length album “Magic”, after signing with 429 Records, did little to null the changing membership.

The original lineup of The Beat were together for just five years, splitting in 1984 after meeting with both critical and commercial success with their blend of ska, reggae and 2 tone. In that time, they toured with some of the biggest musical names on the planet, including R.E.M., The Specials, David Bowie, Talking Heads, The Clash and The Police. Since the breakup, they’ve performed together just once - in 2003 at London’s Royal Festival Hall. VH1’s Bands Reunited television show tried, unsuccessfully, to make the reunion a permanently going concern, but instead, the two singers from the original band - Dave Wakeling and Ranking Roger - have fronted their own versions of the group.

Wakeling is the singer in The English Beat, who have continued to tour and record. They contributed a couple of brand new songs to a Scooby-Doo cartoon in 2013, and announced plans in 2014 for a new album the following year, set to be titled For Crying Out Loud. It is set to be paid for via crowdfunding - in particular, PledgeMusic - and will be their first proper release since summer 2012, when they dropped a box set titled The Complete Beat. Rhythm Epkins, Matt Morrish, Kevin Lum and Larry Young round out the current lineup of The English Beat.